James Bond 007: Blood Stone Walkthrough & Strategy Guide

Blood Stone can be loosely described as a 'cover-based shooter,' which means that the smart player will spend a lot of time running from cover point to cover point, firing on enemies in between or relying on melee attacks when stealth is the goal (as it so often will be). If you've played this sort of shooter before, you should be able to settle right into place with no input from us, but below you'll find some general tips for the player who hasn't yet conquered that style of game.

1

Always look for cover

As you work your way through each of the on-foot stages, which make up the bulk of the game, you'll find numerous places where you can duck behind crates, or behind outcroppings (such as stone columns or short walls). Hiding places are spaced so regularly throughout the game that you should never have difficulty finding a shadowy place to lurk.

2

Be ready to move to a new point of cover as needed

One apparent reason for the especially high number of suitable points of cover is this: enemies can flank you and make life rough even when you're ducked behind a protective barrier. They also can throw grenades, so you'll need to be ready to roll to a new point of shelter if you see an indicator on-screen that looks like a grenade. That indicator will tell you where the grenade is positioned so that you can move in the opposite direction.

Most corridors that you will explore in the game have a bare minimum of two points of cover, and often there are three to five, perhaps even more. As you duck behind one point of cover, you can creep to its edge and look around the side of the area. From there, it's often possible either to crawl around a corner (so that you stay in a protected area while still relocating) or to perform a quick dash to a new barrier. Both skills are important, and the difference between them tends to come down to whether you tap or hold a button. Learn the difference as quickly as possible.

3

Silence is golden

Many of the stages are designed in a manner that makes it possible to avoid detection for long periods of time, even while dealing with enemy soldiers. If you're good at creeping around barriers and if you're willing to stop and wait, you will find that guards patrol in a manner that makes it easy to isolate and stealthily kill one man at a time without raising the alarm amongst his fellows.

4

Don't use just your guns

If you're trying to sneak into a complex, save your gun for emergencies. As noted above, it's often possible to isolate guards and eliminate them without making any noise. It's often possible to take down a handful of guards before the remaining troops realize that they have a problem on their hands. This in turn allows you to conserve ammunition.

5

A little aiming never hurt anyone

If you want, you can rush into battle and take down soldiers with a combination of melee attacks and shots fired from the hip. The approach can be extremely effective, but it's perhaps not as much fun as sneaking around and shooting people in the head. A head shot, properly executed, will take a foe down in an instant. That means less time spent reloading and it significantly reduces the (limited) risk that you'll run out of ammunition. There are points in the game where you'll be required to deal carefully-targeted shots in order to proceed, so it's a good idea to start practicing early.

6

Focus your aim a bit, when you find yourself in a pinch

Each time that you take down a thug with a stealth attack, you earn one use of a Focus Aim attack. With this move, you are given much more time to place a shot as everything slows to a crawl. There are enough thugs and enough opportunities to take them down with physical attacks that a good player should have little difficulty working through the game using very few standard shots at all.

7

Phones are getting smarter all the time

As MI6's finest, you're equipped with a smartphone. Learn to use it early and rely on it frequently. Besides allowing you to find intel, which isn't terribly exciting, the phone will serve the more exciting purpose of letting you know where enemy soldiers are positioned. It also highlights ammunition and other points of interest throughout each stage. If you're lost, it's also a handy compass that will point you to your next destination, one corridor at a time.

With your gear, a little knowledge and a tiny bit of practice, you'll be the secret agent that it takes to track down the mastermind behind this world-spanning conspiracy. Good luck!